Abstract

War and armed conflict have constituted one of the most serious threats to human life, liberty, and property, as well as the fundamental concept of humanity as a moral and ethical concept, since the birth of civilisation. On a purely logical level, it is ludicrous that the murder of one or a few individuals is assigned negative social sanction and is treated as a crime, yet the death of thousands is lauded as a great act of patriotism or sacred obligation in religion. Jean Rostand expresses this propensity succinctly: "Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. " It is never easy to think about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Nonetheless, the increasing number of declarations underlines the importance of considering the circumstances involved in assessing the situation under the applicable law. While the solution to any conflict is political, any armed conflict is governed by a specific area of international law known as the law of armed conflict, commonly known as international humanitarian law. Although it is frequently claimed that international humanitarian law is ineffective, we must not lose sight of the reality that its application, however limited, ensures that civilian lives are saved. This paper conducts an extensive and in-depth analysis of the application of International Law to armed conflicts with a specific nexus to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

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